1. Fastball

Nolan Ryan

The best to ever set foot on a mound, Nolan Ryan’s money pitch was the fan-favorite fastball, which he threw at better than 100 mph, even well into his 40s. On top of being thrown hard, the fastball is tossed with a backspin, causing it to fall very little — and giving batters the illusion that the ball is rising. It has both two- and four-seam variations. Nolan Ryan is the all-time strikeout king, with 5,714, and threw seven no-hitters in his career. Though other power pitchers such as Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson have made the fastball their big pitch, no one used it as well as Nolan Ryan.